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“It’s a people’s world”: an interview with Elgar Feddema of Corlido Group

What does it mean to make it in the north? This is part of a series of portraits of local people, organisations, and companies working to further internationalise Groningen, Friesland, and Drenthe. This time we spoke to Elgar Feddema, Sales Manager at multi-national procurement company Corlido, based in Emmen.

By Thomas Ansell

Corlido Group is based in Emmen, and began as a fairly normal wholesaler in the late 1990’s. Now, though, its reach has spread to 14 countries across three continents, and its clients include everyone from the Hanzehogeschool Groningen to Shell.

“We have five main areas of business activity: procurement, warehousing, logistics; invoicing, and E-procurement and P-card solutions”, says Elgar Feddema, Sales Manager, “naturally these can be split up even further, and out Procurement Services division especially handles long-term agreements. Within Project – and Piping supply we can act as an international partner in buying project-related materials; mostly technical materials.”

As a company, Corlido Group’s strength is in the diversity of its services: these are end-to-end in terms of procurement, and make it able to provide assistance and management across diverse sectors from the oil and gas industry, to education, healthcare; public sector, the energy industry, and the transport industry.

Emmen may not be the first location when you think of a multinational company with 16 subsidiary offices around the world, but Feddema notes that Corlido places a high value on intercultural understanding. “Creating synergy in a cross-cultural environment is often challenging. It’s a peoples world. The overall vision does of course unite the staff, and Corlido strives to create cohesion and positive cross-cultural working environment.” The company has International staff across its network, including in Emmen, but looks at its staff as a cohesive whole: “it’s about mindset, language, personality, diversity, and many other things’, says Feddema.

In having such an international network, staff, and supply chain, Corlido is taking advantage of the connections and innovations offered by being more International as a company. Indeed, Feddema’s advice to businesses in the North is simple: “employers could have a more open mind-set. More accepting of a world changing faster than ever before. Things that matter to internationals are to be considered an opportunity; make use of their know-how, and the cultural diversity international people bring with them.”

And to those considering moving to a company like Corlido: internationally focused, highly successful, and based in the Northern Netherlands? “The three Northern provinces can be quite different from the rest of the Netherlands. On the other hand, the things that define us are the similarities we have: not the differences. Work together, because together is better!”

In terms of job-hunting, and hoping to find positions in forward-thinking companies, Feddema has a simple but hugely effective piece of advice: “Get in contact! We are an open-minded bunch of people!”

To find out more about companies such as Corlido (www.corlido.nl) in Drenthe, Groningen, and Friesland, or to find highly-skilled jobs in areas such as Procurement and Supply Chain management, head to www.makeitinthenorth.nl

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NorthernTimes.nl is an English-language news site for internationals and anyone interested in news and activities in the three northern Dutch provinces of Groningen, Friesland and Drenthe. The website provides daily coverage and summaries of local news in the north, as well as human interest stories, backgrounds and a regional events calendar. The Northern Times is an initiative of the International Welcome Center North in cooperation with Persbureau Tammeling BV, which owns and operates the website.

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